It was founded in 1950 by Raúl Ruiz González and other former members of the Revolutionary Left Party (PIR).
It soon entered the labor movement and was included in the leadership of the Central Obrera Boliviana and the FSTMB during the 1960s.
In 1964, Ruiz González and others broke away to form the pro-China Communist Party of Bolivia (Marxist–Leninist).
[3] In 1966, the Cuban-based revolutionary Che Guevara planned to initiate a guerrilla war against René Barrientos, Bolivia's military dictator.
Instead, Guevara formed a separate organization, the National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional).